Reviews

Confessions of a Falling Woman: And Other Stories by Debra Dean

ketevanreads's review against another edition

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2.0

Supposed to be edgy but just a giant collection of white women whining about their lives.

The last story was for some reason about a man, it dragged on for 100 pages. Almost dnf but slogged through.

After a complaint about how gentrification wasn’t actually that good at keeping poor people out, it culminated in a deluded wealthy white man beating the crap out of an innocent black teenager and this functions as a stop along the path to some meaningless realization about his sad life.

carlymarion's review against another edition

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5.0

Crushed this in a day. Incredible.

sandeestarlite's review against another edition

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3.0

As with most short story collections, some good, some so-so. A good dramatic mix of subject matter: a daughter's view of her mom's intervention, a lawyer questioning his reality.

kateapaquette's review against another edition

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3.0

This collection of short stories was easy reading. Not a cant put down until I am done book but good for when you only have a few minutes to read.

crystallinegirl's review

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2.0

I picked up this book because the title intrigued me. I was expecting a book of short stories on a theme, being Falling Women, and instead I got a book of short stories by an author, one of them being from a divorced, adulterous ex-wife. For all that it wasn't what I was expecting, and was not my usual fare, I was impressed by the quality of the writing and the emotions behind the stories. Most of the stories are tiny vignettes - glimpses into other people's lives. The last story is a much longer story about a washed-up actor. The book is short, but still manages to cram in nine stories in 135 pages, with the tenth consuming 90 pages on its own.

The book begins with "What the Left Hand Is Saying," about the people living in an apartment building coming together to form a community. "The Queen Mother" descibes a Southern Matriarch getting an intervention for her alcoholism. "The Afterlife of Lyle Stone" is a bizarre little story that I'm still not entirely sure what to make of. "A Brief History of Us" reads like a woman talking to her shrink about her family's history. "Another Little Piece," "Romance Manual," "The Best Man," "The Bodhisattva," and "Confessions of a Falling Woman" all deal with varying aspects of love and romance. The crowning story of the collection is "Dan in the Gray Flannel Rat Suit" about a washed-up actor realizing he's washed-up.

This was a decent collection. It's not my normal cup of tea, though her novel looks vaguely interesting (The Madonnas of Leningrad). I'll probably only pick up Madonnas if I happen to see it on the library shelf when picking up other things. If you're into contemporary fiction, though, this might be worth a shot.

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.